Squire Hayseed

Blows

Perched high in the saddle, his feet slack as they bounced into the horse's side, Gavin shouted out, "Are you all right back there, Squire?"

"Yeah," Hayley huffed, doing her damnedest to keep pace. They'd made it out the gate and down part of the dirt path, until he veered wildly off onto a trail the horse seemed to know well. Some of the trip required her leaping over downed logs and trying to avoid branches and burrs snapping at her heels. When it opened up onto a babbling brook with a handful of boulders prodding out of the ground, Hayley risked splashing her face before she resumed the mad pace behind the man and beast.

"If you're tiring you can ride with me," the man said to her, before clearly leaning closer to shout to his horse, "Grigolet can handle a great load."

Trying to not take too much offense at his calling her a load, Hayley shook her head. She'd lasted about a beat of her eyelashes staring up at him when he tried to get her on the horse the first time. Some excuse about how she preferred walking tumbled out between gasps and eventually the man gave in. Hayley didn't think it'd be too bad giving chase, she'd ran laps across the entire city before, but this was torture. Stomping up through piles of unstable leaves, fending off the whips of twisted branches, and sometimes staring straight ahead into a horse's rear end. She was regretting not asking for a blindfold and being tied to the saddle. If she passed out from the panic while trussed up on it, at least she wouldn't have had to run these past however many miles.

"Ser," she gasped, trying to shake off the sweat burning on her brow. It splattered across the bent over grass like shattered glass, distracting Hayley as she sucked in more air. She felt Gavin staring at her, the knight easily spinning his horse around as both faced her.

"How much further?" she asked, wincing at the words. She feared the answer would be "Oh not much, just over a mountain. Shouldn't be more than five hours. Clip clop and all that."

Gavin, thankfully, was not a clip clop person. He eyed her up and bundled the reins around the saddle horn. Easily sliding off the horse, he landed upon the ground and said, "Here should be fine."

"Oh merciful god," Hayley sputtered, tumbling to her knees. As they both suckered into the mud near the always near brook she felt a burning cramp rise up both her legs. It twisted her muscle around like braided rope, causing Hayley to flip to her side as she tried to rend away the pain.

Above her, Gavin began to unload whatever he forced the horse to carry. Metal clearly clanked under the blanket, Hayley watching as a helmet slipped from his hands to thud on the ground. "Ser, what are we doing here?" she asked. This was the ass-end of nowhere, barely deer trails to a water source. If he wanted to lose her he'd already done it. No chance Hayley could find her way back now, not without a road.

Gavin finished piling up the clanging metal, the helmet resting on top of it. He reached inside of the bundle and excised out a sword. In the sweltering sunlight it didn't so much glint as blah, the metal as flat as a rainy sky. He waved the pathetic thing around a bit before tossing it towards Hayley. Instinct took over and she lashed out fast to catch it. The weight was bad, she didn't know exactly how, but it wobbled in her grip. Swords probably weren't supposed to wobble.

The bottom part, the holding bit, was worn down to a few nubs. Hayley only slotted it next to the pads of her hand for a moment before they began to complain.

"We," Gavin said, tugging out a spear and standing it up tall as if it carried his family banner, "are training. Eventually you can perform these drills in the courtyard of the estate."

"Courtyard?" Hayley tried to conjure up anything like that in the pile of houses she wandered around between. "Oh, you mean the mud pit?"

Gavin pursed his lips, "Lady Bernadine prefers courtyard."